As the performance of general-purpose information processing apparatuses such as a personal computer improves, texts, tables, images, and the like can be easily created/edited by various application programs.
In general, texts, simple tables, and the like are created by a document editing application program, images are created by an image editing application program, and tables with relatively complicated operations are created by a spreadsheet application program. In this manner, the user selectively uses an application in accordance with the purpose.
A document for one purpose is formed from only one type of data such as only text, only a table with numerical operations, or only an image, but a situation in which a document containing different types of data is created is increasing.
To prepare a document formed from a plurality of data types, each part of the document is created, edited, and printed by a corresponding application. Then, respective parts are rearranged in intended order and combined.
However, to assign page numbers to pages when the user creates one target document by combining printed materials generated by various applications, the user must print out all necessary data, combine them into a paper document as a printed result, and then determine page numbers to be assigned. Each application writes determined page numbers on respective pages (to be referred to as logical pages or document pages) of a document created by the application. Even if the application program has a function of assigning page numbers, the page numbers of discontinuous pages must be designated by the user. If the pages of the target document are rearranged, page numbers must be reassigned in accordance with the rearrangement. These pages must also be edited and printed again by a corresponding application when not data contents but merely the format is changed so that a plurality of document pages are combined into one page (to be referred to as a physical page or print page) as a print material, or single-sided printing is changed to double-sided printing.
Since an application changes depending on the type of data, the user must manually provide an interface between applications. This means that much labor is demanded of the user, decreasing productivity. Creation of a single purpose document by sharing respective parts between a plurality of individuals using application programs on their respective PCs is especially confusing, and readily causes errors owing to operations by many users.
To solve the above problems, the assignee of the present applicant has proposed the following technique in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-91518.
First, as for application programs (e.g., a wordprocessing application and spreadsheet application) or data files created by unknown application programs, a common electronic document file is created using a predetermined device driver as a printer driver on respective applications. Application data files can be converted into an electronic document file of a common format regardless of the type and manufacturer of an application, and pages in the electronic document file can be extracted.
Second, as for versatile image files (e.g., a bitmap file, JPEG file, and Tiff file) whose formats are laid open to the public, images are directly extracted as pages from image files.
One bookbinding data file is created from pages obtained by the first and second processes as pages which form electronic bookbinding data.
In this arrangement, pages which form bookbinding data can be created by any application as far as the application has a printout function, and bookbinding data containing page data created by respective applications can be generated.
To meet the demand for electronic submission, there has recently been proposed a mechanism in which image data scanned by a scanner is processed by importing the image data into a bookbinding application for making ready for a print document. If an original paper document has the mark of a staple or punch hole, the shadow of the mark appears in an image page scanned by a scanner, and the user attempts to erase such unnecessary data from a plurality of image pages with an image editor function.
Attention is paid to bookbinding data in the prior art. Pages contained in bookbinding data include image pages and non-image pages (pages created by a wordprocessing application or the like). An image page has a general-purpose format and requires a simple editing process such as erase of a post-process mark, but whether a page is an image is unknown unless the page is opened.